Pet Channel

Now that we’ve got the measurements for the “blue room”, the room that’s mostly glass that we’re going to put the birds in, we can sort of mark out what size that is here and figure out how much other room we’d have once the bird cages are in it. The problem is that the birds give off so much fluff and cockatiel dust that we probably don’t want to put computers or TVs or entertainment centers in with them. Or maybe we do, as long as we put the HEPA filter in there and change the filter a lot.

Jim Clark, an educator with the Penn State Cooperative Extension of McKean County, said many volunteers are putting together lists of nearby veterinarians, dog kennels and other resources.

"In veterinary medicine, just like any other medicine, the cost of providing quality care is getting higher all the time," Gaines said. "One of the ways that owners are going to be able to cope with that is with pet insurance.

The piece I liked best was Steinlen's kitschy Apotheosis of Cats, a giant mural that hung in the Chat Noir--and it was funny to see that "Black Cat" was considered a cool name for a club in the nineteenth century.

The bridal shower hosted by the Supercousins was yesterday and I did not bring the camera. I got approximately eight zillion bird feeders (the theme was "Home and Garden.") The desert was dirt cake (crumbled Oreos with pudding and chocolatey stuff) served in small flower pots with fake flowers stuck into it and gummy worms to top it all off. Delightful!

I’m not an avid mystery reader, but was given my first “Cat Who” book over two decades ago because I had (still have) Siamese cats. Anyone who knows anything about this series of books knows that two of the main characters are Siamese felines named Koko and Yum Yum. Ms. Braun took KoKo and Yum Yum’s names from Gilbert and Sullivan and the mustache of the main character, a journalist named Qwilleran was copied from Mark Twain.

I have never before watched one of these dog show TV shows. As a dog, other dogs interest me little beyond the smell of their nether regions.

As a human, I’ve scoffed at the little I’ve seen of these shows. I deemed them contrived and random and the product of people who a)project WAY too much humanity onto dogs and b)clearly have no children. Well here I am. I’ve watched 3 hours of the Portland Rose Classic, round 1 in the Eukanuba Big Deal National Dog Show Series. I’ve paid close attention and learned a lot. I’ve concluded that these shows are contrived, random, and the product of people who a)project WAY too much humanity onto dogs and b)clearly have no children.

Sheepdog trial (or simply dog trial) is a competitive dog sport in which herding dog breeds move sheep around a field, fences, gates, or enclosures as directed by their handlers. Such events are particularly associated with hill farming areas, where sheep range widely on largely unfenced land. These trials are popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and other farming nations.

It rained last night and the air is still heavy with mist: water drops from tiny bright green leaves and branches. It covers every surface like a glossy sheet. The birds are silent. The delinquent squirrels who are usually hard at work by this time thieving my bulbs and prying open bird feeders are nowhere to be seen. I did spy a lone beetle on the deck rail outside my kitchen, but he seemed a bit cranky so I didn't attempt to commune with him.

A billboard advising dog owners to not chain their dogs will rise in this rural community where a 4-year-old boy was fatally attacked by his family’s chained mixed-breed dog.

The message from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals will read: “To keep your family safe, chain your door, not your dog.”

Some animal advocates say chaining a dog makes an animal more aggressive.

Sunday, Robbie Shafer was fatally mauled by his family’s Rottweiler-shepherd dog, which was chained in the family’s yard.

Dan Paden, a cruelty case worker in PETA’s Norfolk headquarters, said Thursday the group is mindful of the family’s pain.

Sometimes I am reminded that the savagery of my fellow humans isn't kept at bay. Example: Cat hunting. People who find feral cats a "nuances" want to be able to shoot them.

"CHICAGO (Reuters) - Thousands of Wisconsin residents voted in support of a proposal that would allow hunters to shoot and kill feral cats, state officials said on Tuesday.

But state legislators must first pass a law before any sportsmen can take aim at tabbies, tomcats or calicoes running wild in the North Woods. Feral cat hunting was proposed by La Crosse, Wisconsin, citizen Mark Smith, but a state advisory panel must decide whether it should even be considered by the lawmakers.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said an advisory poll conducted in all of the state's counties Monday evening found 6,380 residents in favor and 5,201 opposed to declaring domestic cats gone wild an "unprotected species" and open to being shot by licensed small arms hunters -- just like skunks and raccoons.

Re: being at home..not so bad, so far, but not so great either. It’s nice to see the cats, and almost all of my stuff is unpacked in a satisfactory way. Ex-except for that giant pile of crap in my living room that needs boxes so it can be labelled and put into the basement until next year. Since there’s no storage in my room. Since all the storage is Shannon’s. Yeh. Which brings me to my next point. Sleepwalking. Shannon sleepwalks. It is incredibly creepy. I’m kind of used to it, because she’s always done it, but it...

Dog training requires simple persistence to be a successful and

Here are 8 dog training tips to guide you along the way.

1. Dog Training Tips - Get your dog’s attention

Top 30 Male Dog Names

1. MAX
2. BUDDY
3. JAKE

The first dog in the adoptive dog kennels was a Bernese Mountain Dog mix. He looked about six or seven months old. He was already adopted, but he didn’t know that. When I crouched down next to his kennel, he got up and stick his paws through the kennel wire so I could pet a small part of him. When I stopped petting him, he shrunk back into his kennel and went back to sleep, as if he had given up all hope of being adopted. There were a lot of dogs that acted like that, but they weren’t as lucky as he was.

The question that remains is an important one: what kind of Gefilte Fish do the cats like?

But as we all know, cats can't read...

The death of 5-year-old Daniel Jorge Munoz underscores the dangers of the island's wild dogs - estimated at more than 150,000 - roaming the streets, where they attack more than 2,000 people per year, public-health officials said. This year alone, 531 people have reported being attacked by wild dogs.

Children transformed two-liter soda bottles into bird feeders Monday as a week long Earth Day celebration kicked off at the YMCA of Vineland.

As North Korea is authorized to export only feathers and pet birds to the EU, the ban only applies to these products.

"This is a clear indication of pollution entering the cycle of desert animals. We don't know how much damage this is actually causing but it's certain this cannot be good for them. There has been a big decline in this species," said the source.

There are a lot of people that say dogs aren’t that bright, and give some rather convincing arguments sometimes. But that doesn’t hold true if you spend a lot of time with them. Ziggy for example, has grown used to being taken for a walk by Jan in the morning (anywhere from 8.30am to 10am). As such, whenever she walks close by the door, he stands there wagging his tail, or whining because he wants to go out. So clearly, he knows that usually, he will go for a walk, and has got used to it and now WANTS to go for a walk (rather than just...

Your puppy should drop into a ’sit’ position in order to reach the food- dog training collar. If you raise the treat too high over the puppy’s head, he is most likely to rise on his back legs to reach the treat without sitting.clicker training- As soon as the puppy sits, give him the treat, act very excited and lavish him with praise saying “good ” Continue short training sessions until your puppy sits automatically when given the “sit” command. You will be surprised how quickly most puppies will learn this...

I have been reading in my book... 277 Secrets Your Cat Wants You to Know. It is an interesting book with lots of humor. I have decided that yes, Salem does really love me & he does own me, he is not like most cats in alot ways, he is a very affectionate & overly friendly. I am very very lucky to have a cat with his personality. He is definitely the Alpha here and shows this in many of his actions. Crazy as it may seen.. I was actually doing things right by hissing & purring at him !!! However, the book does not talk about how to stop your cat from...

NZ doesn't have much in the way of tropical fish, but the stingrays were good too look at. We then drove back to Auckland and stayed in the same room as before! We all then had dinner above the city in the Sky Tower. I hated it. The lift was glass bottomed as was the door of the lift. Going down was far worse than going up. 30 floors in 10 seconds, I thought we were free-falling! The dinner wasn't very impressive. It was a buffet and none of the food was labelled and I had a virgin strawberry daiquiri and it just tasted like ice and...

houghts of multiple locations and dozens of employees were far from the minds of Dick Clarke and his son, Bobby, when they started their pet supply company in 1989.

They just wanted to provide a fast, dependable service to pet owners, something the Clarkes found lacking in seeking supplies for their Airedales. But in the 16 years since, their company, Care-A-Lot Pet Supply has become a popular retailer for people who pamper their pets.

When it started, Care-A-Lot printed 2,000 catalogs of pet supplies. It now prints about 10 million catalogs annually and services customers across the country.

My neighbor's cat -- we can call him Morris, since he looks like Morris the Cat - big and orange -- is an aggressively friendly cat. He's really starting to annoy me. He's an outdoor cat, and by that I mean I think he strictly lives outside, or at least it seems that way. We pull in to the driveway, and there's Morris to greet us -- it's like he's a dog! It's like he's our dog! He's always been very friendly and affectionate, but lately he's just gotten too aggressive for my taste.

Money can't replace Mac. But the pet insurance policy we had is refusing to pay out as they say he must have had the condition when we bought him. Including vets bills we're currently out of pocket by over £1,100. Arse.

Yeah, it’s been a very busy week. Work has been hectic. On top of the normal abnormality I also have added another big tasking to my somewhat overloaded schedule. I will be begin teaching canine education. In other words, I’m the dog trainer. We have an instructor already but he is not exactly overly ambitious, and is falling short on filling classes. The district manager came down from corporate and was talking to everyone about the dog training classes. I have some exposure / experience regarding dog training and next thing you know...

That made me weep a little. It made me think of all the dreams I’ve had of the cats. Remember the first one I had of Ellie when she first died? She was there with Eddie…those are my sweetest dreams…

Most diets fail because we are still thinking and eating like people. For those us who have never had any success dieting. Well now there is the new Miracle Cat Diet! Except for cats that eat like people - such as getting lots of table scraps - most cats are long and lean (or tiny and petite). the Cat Miracle Diet will help you achieve the same lean, svelte figure. Just follow this diet for one week and you'll find that you not only look and feel better, but you will have a whole new outlook on what constitutes food. Good Luck!

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference New Diet Fad (this is better than Atkins) inspired by cats:

I've always been fascinated with the expressive positions cats assume when they sleep. Creative cat names are fun, too.

A treatment that has helped paralysed dogs to move could also help people, researchers have claimed.

Mr. Csányi’s team has been studying canine cognition for the past decade and, in the process, has built a body of experimental evidence that suggests dogs have far greater mental capabilities than scientists have previously given them credit for. “Our experiments indicate a high level of social understanding in dogs,” he says.

Hunting Dog Training!

it is actually the only method i currently use for my dog training -

Feline lovers holding pictures of cats, clutching stuffed animals and wearing whiskers faced-off against hundreds of hunters at meetings around Wisconsin to voice their opinion on whether to legalize cat hunting…

Although I've categorized this post as "Understanding Islam," it probably goes better under the "Why don't you tell us how you really feel" department. I've been aware that women were treated as lesser citizens in the Muslim world, especially after all the events and commentary surrounding the Theo van Gogh murder in Holland, but worse than "cats and dogs?" In the Memri article we hear that:

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Arab Feminists Speaking Out On Women's Rights: Cats and Dogs in the Developed World Have More Rights than Women in the Arab and Muslim World:

Last night we’re watching the finals of the Westminster Dog Show (was that a Pomeranian or a tribble?) when we had another of those “we haven’t influenced the dominant paradigm at all, have we,” moments. The winner of the herding group, a lovely border collie, was officially named Champion something-or-other Spellcaster, kennel name of Merlin. What a sweetie.

My only exposure to cats during those years were cats that were none too friendly. These included my grandparents' Siamese cats (Some had friendly moments but were mostly not friendly to me.), my friend's pissy, mean black & white cat, and the pissy, mean black & white cat that belonged to HB's family. The only good cat experiences I'd had were with my grandparent's farm cats who seemed to be pretty happy-go-lucky, loved to be loved on and would purr and purr.

Who can resist Chocolates for Valentine’s Day? Your dogs health depends on it! (resisting, that is). We humans get to indulge because most of us know when to stop. But your dog won’t quit after just a few. Give her a chance and she’ll down the whole box of Godivas in one gulp. So on Valentine’s Day, you’re actually being kind to your best buddy if you eat all the chocolates yourself!

We again have such a NICE NICE assortment of boarders, though when we have difficult ones, I probably WON'T proclaim it in my web log. I think for now we should be called "Yellow Dog Acres", because there are so many golden-coated dogs here at this time!

From the wealth of dog training options available in Austin, we chose Kim Roche. Kim helped us turn our Town Lake puppy into a happy, healthy pooch.

Myth #9: Dogs' mouths are like 20 times cleaner than ours, or whatever.

Paris Hilton to (pay someone else to) design line of jewelry for dogs. Because sometimes even regular people want to dress their dogs up like whores’ dogs.

I'm just "beat". Groomed two smallish dogs and one very large golden retriever today. I really don't know how other groomers can groom 6 to 8 in a day, even WITH a dog bather!

I didn't get any potting done today, and I have already two dogs to groom tomorrow. One is a matted cocker spaniel, and one is a little fox terrier cross.. cute as can be.

The issue of whether to make feral cats an unprotected species, meaning they could be hunted and killed, was put before the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, an independent organization created by the state 70 years ago to take public input on conservation issues, last night. Representatives from 72 counties listened to residents' concerns about the issue.

The proposal, which was raised five years ago and voted down by the congress, was revived after a 2004 University of Wisconsin study that found non-native feral cats were a threat to native animals such as lovebirds.

Estimates of the number of songbirds killed each year by feral cats in Wisconsin alone range from 8 million to 217 million, though the number is actually believed to be around 39 million, said Steven Oestreicher, the chairman of the congress.

If most of the counties approve the proposal, the Conservation Congress could decide to recommend to the state Natural Resources Board that cats be listed as an unprotected species. If the board agrees, it would make the suggestion to the state legislature, which would have the final say in the matter.

My 12 year old cat Clawdette was a feral kitten, found meowing and nearly starving at the doorstep of a private detective who was horribly allergic to cats. He took her in and loved this month old mangy kitten. There are many people and some groups in San Diego that work at helping feral cats and Clawdette (I chose the name and spelling of it) fell through the cracks.

She has proven to be a wonderful pet. And I know people who work to help feral cats and limit the expansion of the population.

BOTTOM LINE: It is a fact that there is feral cat problem nationally. But we also know there are some people who'd just love to be able to feel alive and powerful by going out there and shooting some cats, just as some people jump through intellectual hoops to justify battering wide-eyed baby seals who never had a chance to live bloody and senseless. And we're sure in their minds they have the intellectual justification for doing so. We wish them a happy life...

I truly wish I had a digital camera..... the looks on my cats' faces as they'd set paw in snow for the first time in their warm and furry lives was priceless to behold.

heh, www.birdhotline.com is a website devoted to reporting and finding lost pet birds. No, not dogs or cats, but _birds_, creatures which can fly away in any direction and travel large distances relatively quickly, and which do not have much individualism within a species.

Cat insurance is becoming more and more popular for older cats. Older pet cat insurance is now more affordable than it used to be. In the past many pet insurance carriers would stop insuring animals after the age of 8. This is no longer true - which is good news for cat owners.

Finally, I'll leave you with this little snippet I saw yesterday on someone's blog. I can't for the life of me think where though, I clicked, ended up laughing so much and forgot. It's brilliant, start your weekend off with a giggle, Funny cats video

Goofy is the big dog at Joe's feet. He's part Schnauzer. Gracie is on the sofa with Joe. She's part dachshund or something, with long skinny legs. They are pretty funny dogs. A couple days ago, Goofy knocked the box of microwave popcorn off the counter, and they tore into and ate a whole bag of un-popped popcorn, including the wrapper. It amazes me, the stuff they will eat. Shall we say, its become poop-corn? :)